Category Archives: Koru

2026 Koru Team News – Term 2, Week 9 (19/06/2026)

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 Kia Ora e te Whānau, 

It has been another busy and exciting week in the Koru Hub, with our tamariki engaged in a wide range of learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom. From developing their literacy and numeracy skills to collaborative play, and hands-on learning opportunities during our ponds trip, there has been plenty to keep everyone motivated and engaged.

Our learners have continued to show curiosity, resilience, and enthusiasm as they tackle new challenges, build friendships, and celebrate their successes. It has been wonderful to see students supporting one another, sharing their ideas, and taking pride in their learning.

Junior Park Explorers Adventure at Beckenham Ponds

We enjoyed a wonderful morning on Thursday exploring Beckenham Ponds as part of the Christchurch City Council Junior Park Explorers Programme.

The trip gave our tamariki the opportunity to get outdoors, learn about the natural environment, and discover some of the amazing plants and animals that live right here in our local community.

During the visit, the children became nature detectives, using their observation skills to learn about the different birds, trees, and insects found around the ponds. They listened carefully to the sounds of native and introduced birds, looked closely at the shapes and features of different trees, and searched for insects living amongst the plants, grasses and pond water. There was plenty of excitement as students shared their discoveries and asked thoughtful questions about the natural world.

The Junior Park Explorers Programme encourages children to develop a sense of curiosity and appreciation for nature, and our students embraced every opportunity to explore, investigate, and learn. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm as they connected classroom learning with real-world experiences.

A special thank you to the parents and whānau members who joined us on the trip. Your support and assistance helped make the outing a success, and we greatly appreciate the time you gave to help our students enjoy this valuable learning experience.











Kapa Haka

We are loving our Kapa Haka sessions with Whaea Cath on alternating Fridays. It is a lovely time to share stories, sing waiata and korero. Cath often brings a small friend with her to help us learn new waiata. This week we meet her little ruru! 

PTA Mid Winter Breakfast 

The Student Council and PTA are hosting a Mid Winter Breakfast on Wednesday 24th June at 8am. Start your day with a lovely warm breakfast with your child in the hall. You will need a bowl, spoon and a can to donate to the Christchurch City Mission. Some teachers may be there to have breakfast too. Please note the classrooms will open at 8.30 as usual, there is no supervision for children to be dropped at breakfast unaccompanied. 

Toys at School 

We have seen an increase in toys from home being brought to school recently. If your child needs a particular toy for comfort, please contact their home group teacher. Otherwise, we ask that toys are not brought to school. They are often a distraction in the classroom and a big worry and disappointment if they get lost or broken. 

Cutlery and Lunchbox Food

If you are sending food to school with your child that requires a spoon or fork, please can you supply this in their lunchbox. We do not have cutlery in the classroom and it is very difficult to get this while we are supervising the children eating. It would also be very helpful if any pouches could be opened a little so the children can access these independently. 

ICT Message

Staying Safe Online: Scams

People in New Zealand are losing millions of dollars to scammers each year – and this is just the figures reported to Netsafe so the actual figure is likely much higher!


It’s important that you and your tamariki know what to look out for to avoid scams. Netsafe have put their best advice together to help you stay safe online and stay away from scams.


Read their scam tips here.


Coming Up 

Tuesday 23rd and Wednesday 24th June - early finish for learning conferences at 1.45pm
Please make sure you have filled in this form to let us know your plans for your child on these days.
Wednesday 24th June - PTA Mid-Winter Breakfast
Friday 3rd July - Funky Hair Day, Last Day of Term 2

Koru Team News Term 2 Week 7

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Kia ora, e te whānau,

Welcome to our Week 7 news, and isn't it hard to believe that we're over half way through Term 2 now?! 

We're loving hearing your tamariki complement each other as they notice our school values being put into practice by their friends, throughout their days at school. We even hear gorgeous stories about this taking place at home too! Tino pai, tamariki - you're awesome! 

The children continue to put impressive effort into their learning across all curriculum areas. Our Literacy programme in the Koru team includes: small group reading and writing (individual letters, heart words, short words at their level, and then leading to short and gradually longer sentences), shared writing (whole class), handwriting, phonemic awareness, Narrative Intervention and a weekly library visit.

Some of the following links have been shared in previous posts, however they're well worth resharing, for new families as well as a reminder for the families of children who started in Term 1:

Please click on the links above, which match the stage of reading at which your child is learning. They provide valuable tips and support for you at home.

Shared Writing teaches the children about the parts of a sentence and what a sentence needs (e.g., a capital letter to start and a full stop, or exclamation mark or question mark at the end, spaces between words, etc.). The children learn about the 'who' (subject), 'do' (verb) and 'what' (object) in a sentence.

Our handwriting programme was a focus in our most recent post.

Phonemic Awareness is the understanding that spoken words are made up of individual sounds. It doesn't involve print, just listening and responding. The children learn to isolate sounds, manipulate sounds, and blend and segment the sounds into spoken words.

Narrative Intervention teaches the children about the parts of a story, for example, the characters, the setting, the problem, the action and the solution (or, as the children like to describe it, 'the happy ending'!).

We love our library visits on Fridays! Thank you so much for ensuring that your child's library folder has been returned to school on or before each Friday. 

What’s coming up:

  • Junior Park Explorers: June 18th (Hooray, and thank you so much to those of you who have offered to help. We really appreciate that!)
  • Reports shared: June 19th
  • Learning Conferences: June 23rd and 24th

Congratulations and thank you:

We would like to acknowledge our very own Izzy Sepie, who recently amazed us all by single-handedly raising a very large sum of money in response to Cade's request for support for those families who might be struggling to provide food, stationery and/or uniforms for their tamariki. Izzy's response to this request for help was to hold her very own bake stall, and all of the money she raised, she donated to the fund which the school holds to support these families.

Izzy, you're a superstar and we say, "Thank you!" Tino pai tou mahi.

Photo Gallery:















A plea: 
Bali's very new polar fleece (zip up the front) has been misplaced and we'd love to find it as soon as possible. Please double check that it's your own child's polar fleece that was brought home today, rather than Bali's by mistake. Many thanks for your help with that.

All the best for a wonderful weekend ahead :)

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koutou,

Stacey, Nicola, Kendall and Elizabeth

stacey.maclachlan@beckenham.school.nz

nicola.reddecliffe@beckenham.school.nz

kendall.skelton@beckenham.school.nz

elizabeth.drummond@beckenham.school.nz



Koru Team News Term 2 Week 5

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Koru Team News 2026

Term 2, Week 5


Kia Ora e te Whānau, 

This week we welcomed 3 new children, and their whānau, to our hub. It's great to have you part of our team! 

Thank you so much for helping your learner bring back their literacy folder each day! We have been loving hearing about all the practice they are doing at home with their soundpack, practising their heart words, and sounds, and then blending them to make little words!! Ka pai!!

Kinetic Letters

Kinetic Letters is the name of the handwriting programme we follow here at Te Kura o Pūroto. Each letter of the alphabet is grouped according to how we form the letter. We then practise the letters as a group. We start with the Jumper family where each of the letters, m, n, h, b, r, p,  start with a down, bump back up, push over. Our focus for the next few weeks is the abracadabra family of letters, c, o, a, d, g, q, s. These letters all begin with a magic c, pull around and push along the ground. Bounce and Skip are part of this programme and they help us to focus on our handwriting and remind us where the letters start. Are they a Bounce letter (start at Bounce's branch, top of the line) or are they a Skip letter (start at Skip's branch, half way up)? Bounce and Skip love watching the children practise their handwriting and often find it difficult to choose someone to have a sleepover with. We love seeing what adventures they get up to when they come to your house for a sleepover!!





We had fun dressing up for our Book Character Dress Up Day to mark the end of our Readathon!







Staying Safe Online: Bullying
One in five young people in New Zealand have been the target of online bullying - it can
happen to anyone, and it can be hard for parents and whānau to deal with. Beckenham
Te Kura o Pūroto takes online bullying seriously and would encourage you to chat to your
tamariki's teacher if you have any concerns about online bullying.

Visit Netsafe’s Online Bullying Advice for Parents to read more.


Friendship List

This is a good way to make connections with other whānau and organise playdates. If you'd like to be included in the Koru Friendship List, let Kendall know, along with your phone number, and she will update the list and email it out. If you're on the existing list, no need to request again, you'll stay on :).

Reminders:

Friday 29th May - Staff Only Day - School closed

Monday 1st June - King's Birthday Holiday - School closed


We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Ngā mihi,

Kendall, Elizabeth, Nicola and Stacey

2026 Koru Team News – Term 2, Week 3 (8/05/2026)

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 Kia Ora e te Whānau, 

It has been an exciting start to Term 2! We have quite a few new faces who have joined the hub in the last three weeks. It has been so nice seeing the children come together as a hub in their learning and play.  

Cross Country 

Last Friday, we had our whole-school cross-country. The Koru children showed our school value of 'We Love Challenge' when they gave it their best go and ran all the way around the park. The Koru teachers were so impressed and proud of everyone giving it a go. 












Inquiry Topic 

Our focus for this term is based on the Social Science curriculum, specifically Geography. We have started our learning close to home, looking at our school environment and what makes our place special. As the term progresses, we will move our lens wider to more of our city, island and then country. This week we learnt about our school logo, our full school name and the cultural narrative of our school.

Cultural Narrative 

Coming Up This Term: 

Friday 15th May - Book Character Dress Up Day - Children may come to school dressed as their favourite book character. 

Friday 29th May - Staff Only Day - School will be closed.

Monday 1st June - King's Birthday Holiday


Have a wonderful weekend, 

Kendall, Nicola, Elizabeth and Stacey


Koru Team News (24/04/2026) Term 2 Week 1

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Koru Team News - Term 2, Week 1 

Welcome to Term 2!

A warm welcome to the new tamariki and their whānau joining our Koru team this term. It’s wonderful to see our children supporting one another as they learn about school life at Beckenham Te Kura o Pūroto. This reflects our school values of We Get There Together and We Love Challenge.

As we move into the winter months, it’s important that children come to school with a jersey or fleece, a jacket, and a change of clothes in their bags each day. On rainy days, we sometimes stay inside during break times, but whenever possible, children will still head outside to play—even when it’s cold. Please ensure they have warm clothing suitable for these conditions.

If your child would like to bring gumboots or slippers, they are welcome to do so. Please make sure all items are clearly named—we can store them by the classroom doors for easy changing.

Reminders:

  • Literacy folders: These should come to school every day. Please keep the letter cards and heart word cards in their small bags inside the folder.
  • Library folders: Our library day is Friday. Children will need their library folder at school each Friday to exchange their two books.
  • Poetry books: These will come home every Friday. Please return them in time for the new poem the following Friday.

Thank you for your ongoing support.


Whole School Cross Country:
  • Friday 1st May, 12:00 pm (Koru runners)
  • Beckenham Park (the big field next to our school)
  • Wear your House top if you have one (these can be bought at our school office)
  • Remember to wear comfortable shoes for running in
  • Koru children will be going out to the park at 11:45am. Our Koru children will be running around 12:00pm. 
  • Whānau are welcome to come and support our runners! If you can't make it, we will make sure we take lots of photos to share.
Cross Country course for Koru: 500 m

  • Racing will begin at the end of the Norwood Gate entrance to Beckenham Park (the green dot on the map below). 

  • Students will run one lap around Beckenham Park and finish at the red dot.

Maths in Term 2

This term, our Y0-2 ākonga (learners) are using Numicon equipment to support their maths learning. Numicon uses equipment which helps make numbers visible (see) and tactile (touch/use), allowing learners to see how numbers are composed (made up of), how they fit together and how they relate to each other.

The ākonga (learners) have been wonderfully engaged in these Numicon sessions. They have been highly motivated to complete the daily activities, explain their thinking mathematically and use their maths vocabulary.

Below are photos of our learners:






Ngā mihi,
Kendall, Elizabeth, Nicola and Stacey